Porto 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid have crashed out of Europe in gruesome fashion following a lacklustre defeat to Porto, which summed up a poor campaign in the Champions League.
The first half belonged to the home side as they cut Atleti open repeatedly, only Jan Oblak keeping Porto from a rout in the first 45 minutes. Joao Felix started his first game since September but his presence was almost redundant as Evanilson set up Mehdi Taremi after just five minutes for the opener. Several saves later, Galeno beat Stefan Savic to the ball, raced to the by-line and cut it back for Stephen Eustaquio to fire past Oblak after 25 minutes.
Things looked bleak but just as depressing was the lack of reaction from Atleti in the second half. Antoine Griezmann, so often the best of Los Colchoneros, was unfortunate that his top corner finish in the 70th minute did not count for a soft call on Rodrigo de Paul. The introduction of Yannick Carrasco had made Diego Simeone’s side more energetic if not that much more incisive.
As Bayer Leverkusen drew with Club Brugge 0-0 in the other group game, Stefan Savic’s flick from a corner was all Atleti could muster.
Simeone’s side finish fourth in the group, managing just one win in extremis over Porto in their first match. For the first time since 2007, there will be no European football in the second half of the season for Atletico Madrid. It is also the first time they have ever finished bottom of their group. A serious inquest will be required at the Metropolitano.
Atleti not showing any reaction after conceding the opener at Porto. They’re facing a second half of the season without ANY European football for the first time since 2007.
— Jeremy Beren (@JBBeren) November 1, 2022
